Hudson wrestling takes 2nd at LCAA Tournament

Sunday

Feb 3, 2013 at 9:00 AM

Tigers finish behind rival Dundee at league meet

By John KoserDaily Telegram Sports Writer

The Division 4 No. 1-ranked Hudson High School wrestling team went 24-3 on the day to earn second place at Saturday's Lenawee County Athletic Association Tournament at Onsted. Hudson earned 202.5 points and finished second in the final LCAA standings.

Blissfield placed sixth in the tournament with 32 points, placing the Royals in a three-way tie for fourth in the final standings with Columbia Central and Hillsdale. Onsted came in eighth with 24 points and tied for seventh with Erie Mason.

Division 3 top-ranked Dundee won the tournament with 246 points and won the LCAA title. The Vikings recorded six first-place finishes along with seven second-place wrestlers.

Hudson had a league-best seven champions and three second-place finishers — even with standouts Jacob Morgan and Tyler Roberts ineligible for the tournament.

"The rest of the team stepped up huge today," Hudson coach Scott Marry said. "We only lost three matches all day, and all of them were in the finals. We didn't allow a single pin, either."

The Tigers won every opening-round match in all of their weight classes. Once the finals began, the tournament essentially turned into a dual between Hudson and Dundee. The rivals faced each other in all but five of the finals matches with Hudson gaining six wins to Dundee's three.

Roddy Hamdan (103 pounds) earned a bye into the finals, where he won by pin. Isaac Dusseau (119) won by pin, as well, going 3-0 on the day and kicking off a Hudson hot streak of four straight finals wins over the Vikings by pin. Mason Lopinski (125), Cole Weaver (130) and JD Waters (135) all earned pins in the finals.

Weaver was impressive on the day, winning both of his matches by pin in a combined time of 63 seconds. Weaver is still undefeated this season.

"I don't really keep track of records," said Weaver. "I just keep winning. Now I'm just waiting for states to get here."

Hudson got its last win of the day in the last match of the day. Zach Rieger faced off against a familiar opponent in Dundee's John Marogen at 285. After two scoreless periods, Rieger was able to get two points on a reversal in the final 40 seconds of the third to earn a 2-0 win.

"It feels really good to get the win," Rieger said. "It's a big confidence booster heading into the postseason. Honestly, I hate wrestling (Marogen) so much. We just know each other so well that it's hard to really do anything."

While Hudson wasn't able to defeat Dundee, Marry was still thrilled with his team's performance.

"We came here to wrestle and we did that; place didn't really matter to us," he said. "Our guys showed what they're capable of today. I've very proud of the team."

Blissfield's Thomas Jackson (189) and Dakota Underwood (215) each finished in third place. Blissfield's Dylan Thompson (285) came in fourth.

"It's a tough league with Hudson, Dundee and Ida," said Blissfield coach Andy Ford. "I feel that we're getting better, though, and our upper weights did really well today. Now we're gearing up for districts and looking forward to that."

The top performer for host Onsted was Isaac Westgate (130) with a third-place finish. Chad Smith (125) and Ian Clark (215) each placed fourth.

"We struggled today," said Onsted coach David Pearce. "There were three matches where we were close to getting a major decision, but we let ourselves get pinned. I've been disappointed with the team's effort at the end of the season, especially with how we've been practicing. We need to turn it on for the postseason. The skill is there, but we need to be more physical and mentally strong."